new research - walking as good as anti-depressant

Steely

Active Member
From someone who both walks daily and takes an anti-depressant daily - I am not sure I buy this research. Perhaps for some. But for those of us who have been knocked literally under the table by depression, you know how hard it is to even walk to the car, let alone around the block. Maybe if you were not seriously depressed, walking would be a cure......but I don't know.
I wonder if they rated the severity of the depression in the people before they did the study?


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070919/hl_nm/exercise_depression_dc_1;_ylt=AoG_mSZPIT1ww7NTtVxby7QE1vAI
 

AllStressedOut

New Member
I could understand this is if it were MILD depression, but not severe. Getting outside makes me feel better if I'm having a bad day, but if I've had a bad month, I don't want to go outside. I just want to curl up in bed or watch tv.

I don't see this being a prescription for seriously depressed individuals. It would be raining lawsuits all over doctor's offices who thought this was the right fix.
 

scent of cedar

New Member
Here is another thing I read about depression.

When we see things close up all the time ~ in our offices, reading our books, watching television ~ it does something to our psyches. It makes us feel small, and closed in. The theory I read (and tried, and found helpful) is that if we cast our vision outward ~ try to see the separate leaves on faraway trees, go to a high place and try to look as far as you can, see far whenever you can, wherever you are ~ that this changes something in our psyches, and in our view of the world, too.

Try it.

It really does change your perspective.

Barbara
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
I feel better when I walk frequently, but I am not clinically depressed. I think it's a real picker upper for mild depression or your average "blues", but if you're a lifelong, depressed person, I think it will help, but not take the place of a chemical inbalance.
 

Steely

Active Member
Welp, just came back from my 2 mile walk - and although I do feel better - I am not cured! LOL. :laugh:
No, really, I do believe exercise can help......but to tout it as something that is good as an anti-depressant is quite mis-leading to me.

A b-50 vitamin, huh? I have never heard of that specific regimen. I take b-12 and it does help with my energy. I will have to look at b-50.

Looking far away, instead of up close. Interesting theory. I wonder if that is why it feels so good to climb to the top of a mountain?

ASO - I know how you feel. That is me sometimes, and it stinks! Even with an anti-depressant, I can get that down!
Evidently the researches did not throw in a difficult child (or 3) and their antics as part of their fact gathering, now did they? :crazy:
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I'm not clinically depressed-I agree for major depression exercise may help but not be enough on its own. I do know for me it makes an incredible difference. I can be feeling down, sad, depressed, or angry and if I can get a work out in (even though I don't feel like fitting it in) it changes my entire perspective (but again this has helped me for being more mild than serious depression).
 

goldenguru

Active Member
For clinical depression I believe exercise to be ONE component of wellness. Along with medications and regular therapy.

I am a walker (4 miles/ 6 days per week) and I do think it is a good preventative. I always tell people it's the best therapy I've never had to pay for. :smile:

Aside from the physical benefits there is something to be said for quiet time ... time to reflect ... to think ... to pray and to realize (as Barb pointed out) that it's a big world.

I walk with my golden retriever and there is the added benefit of her quiet steady presence.

 

AllStressedOut

New Member
I just started back to walking daily. I walk 2 miles every day. I've found if I skip any days, I not only feel bad physically, but mentally. I feel lazy I guess. I skipped Wednesday because of my allergies, so yesterday I walked two 2 mile sessions, 30 minutes apart. Even after "making up" the miles, I still felt bad that I didn't do it the day before.

I also find walking outside vs. walking on the indoor track at the Rec Center is more helpful to my mood. Something about the fresh air. Even with my seasonal allergies, I'd prefer to walk outside.

I'm going to head to a health food store and see if I can find those vitamins. I'm sure my diet doesn't get me enough of what I need.
 

scent of cedar

New Member
And here is something else interesting: When I was sick and was reading so much? I read that hot peppers cause our bodies to release endorphins ~ the same substances released when we exercise strenuously, or when we are in pain.

It doesn't even have to be so hot you cannot stand to eat it ~ just including cayenne pepper and chilis in general ought to make some little difference.

OLE!

Nomad, that is very interesting stuff. I am going to start taking vitamins again. I swear by the B vitamins for PMS.

I think one of the reasons exercise is so beneficial psychologically is that we accomplish a much needed change of perspective.

You guys know I just took my green belt in karate, right?

Very strenuous, and I love it. :smile:

Barbara
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
I take a multi vitamin that is high in B vitamins, all of them. I also take Super Omega's and I can notice a HUGE difference in my psyche when I miss a few days. The way our society has become so industrialized makes it difficult to eat the way our ancestors ate, which was a healthy, home grown, varied diet without fillers, preservatives and not cooked or processed to death. We've always eaten healthy, but not being raised on fish, I hate fish. My kids never really ate a lot of fish and I know that many studies have been done that conclude that fish in your diet (those omegas again) are beneficial to mental health and clarity. So I take the supplements. I have tried for years to get difficult child and easy child to take them as well to no avail.
 

Steely

Active Member
Yea, the omega 3's are supposed to be really great as well as the b vitamins. I am on a bit of a vitamin kick again, so I am going to get both. I have been taking b-12 methyl for awhile, and it works great - but not the other b's or omega-3's. I am also getting difficult child on board with this, because it seems this could benefit him as well.

For what it is worth, if any of you have a costco membership - they have an amazing selection of vitamins for 1/4 of the price of a health food store.
 

KFld

New Member
Well, if walking helps depression, what would happen if we ran everytime we see our difficult child's coming?? Just kidding.

all kidding aside, I have never been clinically depressed, but I do walk almost everyday and I know it always helps me feel a little bit better. It doesn't totally cure my blue moods, but it gives me that little bit of a lift to get out in the fresh air and clear my mind.

Sometimes I walk alone when I need time to just think, but most days I walk during work with a very close friend of mine and we compare our troubles of the world. We both know each others husbands well, so sometimes our walking conversations can be pretty commical.
 

scent of cedar

New Member
Yep.

And Sam's does, too.

It's so confusing to know what to take. There is a book (There is always a book with me, ladies! :blush: ) Healthy Aging, I think it is, by Dr. Andrew Weil. An excellent resource, and beautifully written.

Nomad?

I plan to continue the karate and see where it takes me. I want to do yoga too though, and would like to go back to ballet classes. Of the three, ballet was the most challenging and the most beautiful and strengthening, I think.

But now that I am fifty-five, it is hard on my hips to turn out properly for ballet class.

I would absolutely recommend it to anyone. It helped me to learn my own body in a new and most strengthening way. It had so much to do with viewing my body as my own, strong possession. For many women, and certainly for me, what I looked like was somehow not my own. It was always about how good (or bad!) I looked, or whether I was dressed well enough, or well groomed enough. Ballet and karate both force us to be strong, and to sweat, and to be someone other than a feminine little thing.

Karate is an excellent place to consider BEING the one of whom an attacker might need to be afraid, instead of always feeling so defenselessly afraid. (Not that I know enough yet to defend myself. But watching that concept evolve has been fascinating.)

Karate is fun, but it is not as beautiful, or as strengthening, as ballet.

Both are forms of moving meditation, keying both body and mind to a different plane.

What I understand is that karate will be the same way, once I have progressed further.

But if I could still take the positions correctly?

I would be back in ballet class in a minute.

Barbara
 

KFld

New Member
I did kick boxing for awhile and I'm seriously thinking of getting back to it. It was a lot of fun and great excerize at the same time.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I think it depends on the severity of the depression. Even heavy exercise didn't help mine. I went far beyond just walking. Even now that I'm feeling good, I work out hard--at least an hour a day.
 
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